


Black Roses

by mayazero



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Black Kingdom, Fantasy, Gen, On Love: Yuuri Zine, Royalty, Sad, Young!Yuuri, chess au, might turn this into a series someday...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 07:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16949298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayazero/pseuds/mayazero
Summary: In where everyone gets their gift (magical powers) at the age of 10. Three months had already passed since his birthday yet the Black Prince Yuuri still hasn't gotten his gift.---A Chess AU centered around the Black Kingdom and it's royal family dynamics.





	Black Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the On Love: Yuuri Zine!!!
> 
> LMAO took me such a long time to post it hehehe...
> 
> Shout out to my beta tuples! Please check out her[ AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuples) or you can give her a shout out on her[ tumblr!](http://eclair.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Feel free to bother me on [ tumblr](https://fyvkthisshyet.tumblr.com/)hahaha!

Yuuri always loved their kingdom’s national flower, the black rose.

They had a whole garden of it, situated at the back of the castle, having been carefully cultured and cultivated by his older sister, the Crowned Princess Mari.

It was honestly the only activity his imperial elder sister engaged in that was remotely lady-like, as being the next in line for the Black Kingdom, the kingdom of strife and chaos, she was trained with the different arts of war. But then again it wasn’t like his sister had any choice at the matter. For some unfortunate reason, the third known ruthless person in the whole kingdom was given the gift of botanical growth - any kind of plantation would always thrive under his sister's touch.

“Isn’t that great?” Yuuri remembered his mother, the black queen, said when Mari’s gift manifested a day after her tenth birthday, smiling benevolently. All around the castle servants were in a disarray as vines and vines of black roses had sprouted from the ground overnight and covered the whole obsidian polished marble castle. “You are the only person in this whole kingdom who could cultivate life instead of taking it. It is something to rejoice about, darling, no matter how peculiar it is.”

Their father had seconded their mother, laughing joyfully as he pulled out the vines covering their thrones, careful in making sure the bloomed buds were not harmed.

(When he visited his parents’ rooms that night after waking up from a nightmare, he saw his mother’s bedside table full with vases and vases of black roses, filing the whole room with the signature heavy sweet scent of the flower.)

None of this placated the scowling princess, for their mother had the gift of unparalleled strength and their father the gift of persuasion, something that had been completely serviceable at running their war-torn kingdom. Yuuri knew his sister had hoped that her gift would be of the same nature as their parents’ (and honestly it was expected, as usually the Black royal family acquire gifts that would be able to help them manage the most dangerous kingdom in the world.)

For the next following years, to make up for her rather useless gift, Mari strived to be the strongest and most ruthless and heartless person on the whole kingdom. But that’s a story for another time.

“I knew this would be where I'll find you,” the familiar apathy laced voice of his sister cut through the stillness of the garden,  disturbing the black butterflies that had rested on different parts of Yuuri's body, making them all fly away.

Yuuri pouted at his sister, not liking the disturbance of his tranquility, but still knowing enough whining would get him nowhere - least of all get those butterflies back on his personage when they've already rested on dark rose buds. It would take him another minute of staying still to attract another batch of them.

But it seemed like that would have to wait for later.

“How can I help you, older sister?” Yuuri instead asked, standing up.    


“Father wishes to see you,” the imperial princess answered, hand stretched to glide over rose bush after rose bush as she strode closer to Yuuri. “Mother is rampaging again at the idiocy of their subjects and you know the sight of you is the only thing that could calm her.”

Yuuri couldn't help the knaw of envy that suddenly seized him at the sight of all those roses blooming and thriving under the softest of touch from his sister. Sure, although already slowly coming to terms with it, Mari may still hate her gift but at least she has one.

Unlike Yuuri who, although his tenth birthday had already long passed, there was still no sign of any kind of gift manifesting on him. 

What made the situation even more frustrating though, was that none of his family members seemed to be concerned. Yuuri's mother most especially kept on reassuring him that there must be a reason why his gift was taking so long to manifest - or it could probably be one of those gifts that needed a certain condition to be met before it's unlocked.

But Yuuri needed his gift now. All of his peers already isolate him enough because apparently, him being magic-free meant it gave them free reign to mock him - notwithstanding him being their prince.

He's had enough of it. Being of from the same lineage as the harbingers of death already made him different enough and made the other young monarchs (who should have been the only ones Yuuri could relate to) in other countries avoid him, he doesn't want to worsen it as being possibly the very first monarch in the whole world to not have a gift.

Yuuri resolved to never come out of his room again if the situation did indeed come to that.

Mari noticed his gaze, and the harsh lines on her face softened, pulling her hand back to her side to stop the flowers from further blooming. The envy Yuuri felt slowly morphed into something much darker at the action, hating the fact that as blase as his family were whenever he brought up the subject about his gift, they seriously mind using it in his company - as if the mere sight of their gifts would make Yuuri lose his mind.

Their unwarranted thoughtfulness certainly doesn't make things better.

And as further proof of that, Mari smiled softly at him - the smile she only reserved for her dear beloved family. “It'll come,” the Black imperial princess assured. “And when it does, trust me all this would be nothing more than something you'll laugh about whenever you reminiscence.”

Yuuri absolutely hated the person he was slowly becoming.

“Mother and Father are at the throne room, right?” He abruptly asked, making a point at ignoring his sister's earlier words. The action made Mari frown as she nodded in confirmation. 

“Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me,” Yuuri chose to ignore her reaction as he hurriedly left the garden, resolving himself to not look back. He already knows his sister is probably sporting a sad and troubled expression.

Yuuri doesn't deserve her pity.

True to his sister's words, when Yuuri arrived at their throne room, it looked like a hurricane went through it - various scraps of paper were littered all around and furnitures could no longer be recognized, damaged beyond belief as people desperately took cover. Crashes could still be heard as the Black Queen continued her rage, this time now attempting to destroy pillars as the Black King laughed joyfully back on his throne.

When their subjects saw Yuuri approaching his mother, relief was visible on their faces.

“Mother,” and with just a touch of Yuuri on her shoulder had the Queen immediately visibly relaxing, usual carefree smile back on its place as she scooped Yuuri into her arms and gave him a warm embrace.

“Ah,” The Queen sighed, beaming as she slowly dropped her beloved son back to the ground. “Why is it that you never fail in calming me down?”

“Probably because you just adore me that much,” Yuuri grinned cheekily. The response earned him a booming laugh from his mother as she picked him up once again to smother him.

Clacking of boots could be heard as the King rose from his seat to approach his wife and son.

“Or maybe,” The King started, perpetual sunny smile not losing its intensity as a teasing glint entered his eyes as he gazed down at Yuuri. “That could be your gift.”

The sick and twisted feeling he felt back at the gardens returned to Yuuri's chest as he uneasily waved off his father's ridiculous suggestion. “Impossible father, that’s unheard of.”

When his father boomed a laugh in agreement, Yuuri felt that dark feeling swallowing him, losing his thoughts completely as his mother joined his father in laughter.

Yuuri only let out a hollow chuckle, finding himself not sharing their mirth.   


That night, when Yuuri woke up from a gruesome nightmare (that usually comes after he placates any of his family's dark moods), he could do nothing more than hold in his sobs as he curled around himself and resolved not to go running towards his parents’ room.

He deserved all these nightmares for being such an awful son and brother, letting all the dark thoughts taunt and haunt him - fuelled even further by his family's reassurances.

No one knew about these dark thoughts. No one knew about the practiced smiles. 

No one knew but Yuuri.


End file.
